Movies
Casting Shortlist: Dean Koontz’ ‘Odd Thomas’
Update: Lily Collins is said to have been offered the role, although the article keeps vanishing and reappearing with new info.
And so it continues…
Reporting on actors NOT locked in for a role, Variety is writing that Emma Roberts (Scream 4), Lily Collins (Priest), Kat Dennings, Portia Doubleday and Addison Timlin are on the shortlist to play “Stormy Llewellyn,” the girlfriend of the title character in Odd Thomas.
Anton Yelchin is attached to star in the supernatural thriller, which Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) is directing from his own script, based on the best-selling novel by the incredible Dean Koontz (who also swore he’d never let one of his novels be adapted into a feature ever again).
“Set in a California desert town, story follows Odd Thomas, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities who encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.”
Production is scheduled to start May 2 in Santa Fe, N.M.
Pictured: Emma Robert
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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